SANTA CLARA, Calif. — And finally, after yet another postseason heartbreak, an emotionally draining offseason, a drama-filled holdout, a wave of gruesome injuries, and a personal tragedy, the star After a player's verbal abuse, and a frustrating and surreal tapout that put the team's hopes on the line, the San Francisco 49ers' 2024 season finally collapsed under its own weight.
Buried under rubble and barely able to speak at audible volume, Kyle Shanahan was the man most involved in the 49ers' failure, a last gasp attempt to prolong an era that seemed doomed. was the biggest culprit. It was launched in February of last year.
Shanahan, the Niners' eighth-year coach, was at the podium after a loss that almost mathematically eliminated the defending NFC champions from playoff contention, courtesy of their fiercest professional rival. Sean McVay's Los Angeles Rams (8-6) boosted their playoff hopes with a 12-6 victory Thursday night at Levi's Stadium, while the 49ers (6-8) It exposed a team that lacked the purpose, precision and cohesion to play beyond that. The first weekend of January.
In the end, in desperation in the rain-drenched Northern California air, Shanahan's offense failed to produce a single touchdown, San Francisco's special teams were typically sloppy, and San Francisco's special teams were typically sloppy, and San Francisco's unusually strong defense The effort was also undone by veteran linebacker Devondre Campbell Sr. ” When he was called up in the third quarter, he surprisingly refused to play.
It all depends on Shanahan, which is why he's in the big chair, and he's not going to run away from it.
Shanahan said Thursday of his adjusted offensive line, “It just wasn't good enough,” and those words apply to this loss and all of this challenging season.
Those words come after six seasons in which the 49ers lost twice to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl, lost the NFC Championship Game twice (including one to McVay's Rams), and assembled a solid roster. It also functioned as an inscription. With some of the most talented and resilient players in the league.
Together they built a formidable foundation, won many big games and at times seemed indomitable.
What we witnessed Thursday night was the NFL equivalent of debris. And the group tasked with cleaning it up and rising from it will look very different in 2025 and beyond.
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“There's been a dark cloud hanging over us all season,” veteran cornerback Charvarius Ward told me after the game. “It's going to be a good offseason for this team to regroup, refocus and get that spark back.”
Ward, a second-team All-Pro in 2023, is set to become an unrestricted free agent next March and is one of many potential 49ers who may not be on next year's roster.
“I don't know if I'll be back,” Ward continued. “But this team will continue to be a great team with or without me.”
That remains to be seen, but Thursday's faceplant, and indeed this entire season, emphasized just how different this 49ers team is from the team that immediately preceded it.
Again, not enough. Realistically, it's not even close.
The NFL is a production business, and Shanahan, who was responsible for assembling and coaching this group along with general manager John Lynch, will have to bear the stain of the team's consistently subpar performance. The Niners have just two wins against championship-winning opponents (Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and have suffered three disappointing losses to divisional opponents after giving up late leads.
They had a chance to stay in the NFC West race on Thursday, but fell just short, producing a lowlight reel in the process.
Wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr., who complained on social media earlier in the week that he wasn't receiving the ball enough, lost a chance to reach the end zone and score a game-changing score on a hard drop. It is highly likely that The 49ers were penalized for two penalties for formation violations when punting. Shanahan was strangely conservative against a defense that allowed 42 points to the Buffalo Bills four days earlier after Brock Purdy completed a 33-yard pass to tight end George Kittle early in the game. He called for three consecutive runs inside the Rams' territory. And Jake Moody made a 53-yard field goal. And Purdy, coming off his best game of the season, struggled in the rain (a recurring theme), then threw a brutal end zone interception with 5:20 left and the 49ers within range of a tying field goal. , effectively causing death. their chance.
Deebo Samuel had a chance to make a game-changing play for the 49ers. Instead, he dropped the ball. (Shearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
And surprisingly, none of those gaffes came close to the most ignominious moment of the night. It belonged to Campbell, the veteran linebacker signed in March to replace Dre Greenlaw. Greenlaw, a passionate playmaker, finally returned Thursday after tearing his Achilles tendon while running onto the field after receiving a punt in the second quarter of Super Bowl III. A night of trying to save San Francisco's season.
He almost did, before his body betrayed him. One of the sport's criminally underrated stars, the 27-year-old enforcer picked up where he left off in last February's Super Bowl, but then clinched the Niners' elimination. I suffered a terrible injury.
It would have made a lot of sense if Greenlaw had performed well against the Rams.
He wasn't. In fact, he was the best player on the field.
Greenlaw had eight tackles, many of them prolific and suddenly violent, before leaving midway through the third quarter with a strained knee. Campbell was next in line at that point.
But Campbell wasn't completely prepared.
Although Campbell was apparently upset about losing the job to Greenlaw, according to Shanahan and numerous players — a development that wasn't shocking to anyone inside or outside the 49ers' locker room — Campbell played the game. He reportedly refused to participate.
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49ers' Devondre Campbell refuses to play, leaves TNF game in 3rd quarter
“He said he didn't want to play today,” Shanahan said. Campbell, who was ultimately sent off the field and sent to the locker room, almost certainly never to return, was described by Ward and Kittle as “selfish” in the postgame interview.
“That was his plan,” Ward told me. “He was determined. I mean, it's crazy. He's not a better player than Dre. You saw it today — (Greenlaw) is the driving force behind our defense and our But (Campbell's decision not to play) is going to be around for a while.''
The juxtaposition of Campbell's departure as a teammate and the resiliency of players like Ward and rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall was uncanny.
Pearsall was shot in the chest during an attempted robbery just before the start of the season and missed six games before returning to make his NFL debut. Ward missed three games because his daughter, Amani Joy, died in October, just before her second birthday. (Amani Joy was born with Down syndrome and a heart defect that required surgery.)
After Thursday's game, Ward opened up to me about the trauma he and his family have endured, and while he admits that football isn't the predominant force in his life right now, he did his best to affirm his dedication to his teammates. I tried my best.
“Personally, it was hard to go to work every day, every game, it was hard to even go to practice and meetings,” he admitted. “I almost quit a few times. S—, I know the fans probably hate me (for saying that), but f—, that's real life. That's football. This is definitely the most difficult time of my life.
In that context, the football team's lost season pales in comparison. Still, the lack still hurts. Athletes and coaches put a lot of energy, intensity, and dedication into a cause and are saddened when they don't achieve their goals. And that's especially true for head coaches.
In the coming weeks and months, Shanahan will think about how everything went wrong and how he and Lynch might be able to work things out in 2025 and the years that follow, and he'll try to find ways to help himself. You will need to face it seriously.
In the meantime, we have three games to play, none of which will matter. Shanahan noted that while the 49ers are technically still in playoff contention, it would take a series of highly unlikely outcomes to make the postseason, and that this incarnation of the team could ultimately win a championship. He admitted that his dream of winning the title was basically over. “They say mathematically there's still a chance,” he said. “I'm not really worried about that right now. … I want to come back and play better football and challenge the team's character.”
Shanahan, visibly shaken, looked as if he had seen a ghost — figuratively speaking, which was true in a way. On Thursday night, across the sideline was Jimmy Garoppolo, the coach's former franchise quarterback and current backup to the Rams' Matthew Stafford. And, of course, there was McVay, Shanahan's former assistant. He then challenged Shanahan for coaching supremacy, won the Lombardi Trophy that Shanahan eluded to, and deftly turned the Rams' shape on the fly in each of the past after hitting rock bottom in 2022. Ta. two seasons.
Last Sunday, McVay orchestrated an offensive outburst that powered a 44-42 upset win over the Bills and kept the Rams in hot pursuit of the Seahawks (8-5) in the division race. Thursday, with 5 minutes, 20 seconds left, after Los Angeles cornerback Darius Williams picked off Purdy's deep hit by Jauan Jennings in the end zone, McVay and his players announced that Shanahan and his 49ers have been on the defensive all season. He has become a closer that he has struggled with.
When the Rams took over 9-6 at their own 20-yard line with 5:20 left, McVay had no intention of giving the ball back.
“That's the responsibility I felt,” he said late Thursday night as he walked from the visitors' locker room to the team bus. “Now the (49ers) have a say in that, too.”
Immediately the Rams silenced them. After 13 plays, 69 yards and only two third downs, Joshua Carty kicked his fourth field goal for a six-point lead. The 49ers' last desperate gasp ended when Purdy was sacked by Christian Roseboom at their own 44-yard line with just 20 seconds left and zero time left in the game, or any way you look at it, on the season. Or the era.
“This was not an easy win,” McVay said. “Their defense was really, really good. They were flying around all night. And it was really tough, especially in the first half, because of the elements. But this is a mentally tough team. Our I like the resilience. I like that we can win in different ways. I like the material we have.”
These were sentiments that Shanahan was once able to truly express about his team. In 2024, if he's being honest, those things no longer apply. There's a lot of responsibility on Shanahan's players and assistant coaches, but most of all it's on him.
In 2024, the 49ers weren't good enough, and neither was he.
(Top photo: Kelley L Cox / Imagn Images)
